This invention relates to a seat for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a vehicle seat with a safety belt for protecting a passenger.
A vehicle seat having a seating section and a back support section, as employed in vehicles, is usually provided with a safety belt for protecting the passenger from being flung about or flung out of the vehicle in case of a collision. The safety belt, comprises a waist belt section for holding the passenger's waist and a diagonal belt section united to the waist belt section and extending diagonally over the passenger's chest. The one end of the safety belt is fixed to the one side of the seat and the other end is fixed to a ceiling of the vehicle. When the safety belt is used, it is fastened at its intermediate portion with a suitable fastening means. This is called a three-point seat belt. Since this type of seat belt has only one fastening point, it can be easily handled, so that it can be widely used in vehicles. This three-point seat belt, however, is not employed for buses and airplanes because the seat belt is attached from the ceiling, which makes it inconvenient for the passenger.
Nevertheless, the three-point seat belt cannot sufficiently protect the passenger at the time of a collision. More specifically, only one of the passenger's shoulders is secured by the three-point seat belt from moving in a forward direction, while the other shoulder is free and unprotected. In addition, if the three-point seat belt is used incorrectly, for instance, a diagonal section of the belt is located near the passenger's neck, which is liable to cause tightening by this section at the time of a collision. Further, in ordinary use of the three-point seat belt, the passenger's chest is pressed by the diagonal section of the belt which creates discomfort. Furthermore, the passenger cannot be sufficiently protected against shocks other than a turndown or rocking of the seat.
Cars used in a car race or rally employ safety belts having four or more fastening points. These safety belts having a greater number of fastening points, however, restricts free motion in daily driving. Besides, it is rather cumbersome to handle the belt. Even if these safety belts are adapted to cars used for daily driving, they are impractical.